FEMA recommends getting involved in community organizations to increase your influence. Guides are available for campus, business, and faith-based organizations.
This week marks the last week of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Preparedness Month 2017. This week’s theme is “Get Involved! Be a Part of Something Larger.” Resources are included to help you get involved, prepare for disasters, and organize events to help others prepare as well.
FEMA recommends getting involved in community organizations to increase your influence. Guides are available for campus, business, and faith-based organizations.
Campus readiness
FEMA, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, recognizes the need for campuses to be prepared for emergency situations. Part of the Campus Resilience initiative highlighted this week is the National Seminar and Tabletop Exercise Series. The workshop and emergency scenario exercises help campus and supporting agencies prepare for to respond to emergency situations. Funding opportunities and resources are also provided in the Academic Resource Catalog.
Public Awareness Campaigns, such as the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign launched in 2010, are an important component of readiness. Focused on remaining alert for terrorism and terrorist-related crimes, the campaign expanded to the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 2016 and to college and university campuses shortly after.
Business readiness
Businesses of all sizes are also included in this week’s focus. Ready Business’s aim is to “assist businesses in developing a preparedness program by providing tools to create a plan.” The initiative follows the National Fire Protection Association 1600, the American National Standard used by the Department of Homeland Security.
Ready Business asks individuals and organizations to participate in the following five steps: program management, planning, implementation, testing and exercises, and program improvement. These steps help keep individuals safe as well as prepare a business to respond to the aftermath of an emergency. FEMA estimates that “up to 40% of businesses affected by a natural or human-caused disaster never reopen.” Preparing for emergency situations ahead of time will lower a business’s risk. A Ready Business Workshop is available.
Ready Business asks individuals and organizations to participate in the following five steps: program management, planning, implementation, testing and exercises, and program improvement. These steps help keep individuals safe as well as prepare a business to respond to the aftermath of an emergency.
Faith-based organizations’ readiness
Many often turn to faith-based community organizations for resources and counseling during emergency situations. Faith-based gatherings can also be targets of human-initiated emergencies. Training is available through the Department of Homeland Security for faith leaders, including workshops, webinars, and exercises. Preparedness guides are available for a variety of emergency situations, including active shooter drills, natural disasters, and outbreaks of illness.
Preparing for weather emergencies
Weather-Ready Nation is put on by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and focuses on “readying your community for extreme weather, water, and climate events.” In the aftermath of devastating hurricanes and weather events in the Atlantic this summer, preparing for weather emergencies is more important than ever. Weather events include snowfall and ice storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and flooding, and drought.
Weather-Ready Nation efforts help first responders and emergency managers by providing critical forecast information. NOAA is calling on all officials, businesses, and citizens to assist efforts by becoming a Weather-Ready Ambassador. Ambassadors will help “build dialog within our local communities that will ultimately reduce the risk of being adversely impacted by extreme weather and water events and increase community resilience.”
In the aftermath of devastating hurricanes and weather events in the Atlantic this summer, preparing for weather emergencies is more important than ever.
Visit www.ready.gov to find tips and resources to help you make the most of National Emergency Preparedness Month. Join in the conversation on social media by sharing your emergency preparedness tips using the hashtags #NatlPrep and #PlanAhead.
